The final day of the 2016 Winamax SISMIX Main Event is about to kick off at the Casino de Marrakech in half an hour with the final 22 players out of a total field of 901 entrants battling it out to first navigate their way to the six-max final table in hopes of eventually playing their way to victory.
Excitement is growing throughout the Es Saadi Gardens and Resort where the casino is located to witness whom among the 22 remaining players will be etching their name permanently in the poker history books by becoming the third-ever Winamax SISXMIX Main Event and claiming the top prize of 850,000 MAD (€78,341). All the players competing today are guaranteed a healthy payday of at least 36,000 MAD (€3,318).
While 17 of the 22 remaining players call France their home, heading into the final day of action three of the top five spots belong to players from other countries.
Local Moroccan player Rachid Am kicks off the action on Day 3 with a commanding lead of 2,604,000 in chips. The four other players currently with seven-digit chip stacks include Belgium's Cheng-Wei Yin (second place - 1,626,000), France's Thomas Cazayous (third place - 1,514,000), Spain's Pablo Redrado (fourth place - 1,302,000), and France's Gregory Cometto (fifth place - 1,000,000).
Team Winamax pros are also well represented during the final day of action with Bruno Lopes standing strong in seventh place with 859,000 and Gaëlle Baumann in 20th place with 438,000 chips.
Play will resume in 30 minutes at 1:00 p.m. local time with blinds at 10,000/20,000 and an ante of 3,000. Stay tuned to our live reporting here at PokerNews for updates throughout the day.
It didn't take too long for our first elimination of the day. [Removed:13] raised from early position to 40,000 with and Romain Lewis shoved his stack of a little more than 20 big blinds with . Guiglini called and the board improved neither hand eliminating Lewis in 22nd place for 36,000 MAD (€3,318).
Olivier Varraud (compliments of Caroline Darcourt)
Another short-stacked player to start the day didn't make it out of the first blind level. Sylvain Roullet raised to 40,000 preflop from under the gun and was flat called by Gregory Cometto. Varraud who was holding less than 10 big blinds then jammed his remaining stack. Roullet folded and Cometto called.
Cometto:
Varraud:
Varraud was still alive on the flop. The on the turn opened eliminated his three outs for a six, but opened up four outs for an eight. However, Varraud was eliminated in 20th place for 36,000 MAD (€3,318) after a completed the board.
Tristan Vernay jammed his short-stack from the button. Sébastien Wuillot with an even shorter stack called his remaining 200,000 chips setting up a heads-up flip.
Vernay:
Wuillot:
Wuillot was already out of his seat wishing players a good game when the flop left him with little hope. The completed the board to eliminate Wuillot in 19th place for 36,000 MAD (€3,318).
We are now down to three tables with a redraw currently in progress.
Team Winamax's Gaëlle Baumann held one of the shorter stacks in play since midday on Day 2. Her run for the title has just ended after just losing a standard blind vs. blind flip against Sebastien Compte.
Compte open-jammed for a little more than 500,000 chips with from the small blind which Baumann called from the big blind with . It was quickly over for Baumann as a was the first card to nail the flop sealing her fate along with the to complete the flop. Hope four a runner-runner materialized when the hit the turn, however Baumann was eliminated after the appeared on the river and collected 36,000 MAD (€3,318) for her 18th place finish.
Baumann's elimination also represented a guaranteed pay increase for those remaining in contention with 12th - 17th places being award 43,000 MAD (€3,963).
Freshly off losing a big hand against Gregory Cometto's set, Cheng-Wei Yin was eliminated just before the first break on a coin-flip against [Removed:13].
Yin raised preflop and was called by Mechiche Alami before Guiglini squeezed from the big blind. Yin called the rest of his 650,000 chips and Alami folded.
Guiglini:
Yin:
Yin's was still alive with eight outs along with some backdoor outs on the flop. However, Yin was eliminated in 17th place for 43,000 MAD (€3,963) after the completed the board.
Guy Cussonneaux (compliments of Caroline Darcourt)
Guy Cussonneaux picked the wrong time to make a move. He began the hand by min-raising the action, getting three bet by Sebastien Compte, and then four-bet jamming which Compte called.
Cussonneaux turned over and was well behind Compte's . The board was just one heart short of a miracle for Cussonneaux who was eliminated in 16th place for 43,000 MAD (€3,963).
Tristan Vernay opened from the button with a min-raise of 60,000 and both Karim Benamrouche and Alexis Fleur called from the blinds The action was checked around on the flop of . Benamrouche opted to min-bet 30,000 when the appeared on the turn which both players called. When the appeared on the river, both players in the blinds checked. Vernay saw thought he saw an opportunity and jammed for his remaining 246,000 chips with . Benamrouche folded, however, Fleur called with eliminated Vernay in 14th place for 43,000 MAD (€3,963).
Another short-stack was recently eliminated also with 7-5 suited. Jean Friedmann was down to just 7.5 big blinds and jammed it all in with . Bruno Lopes woke up with and isolated the action with a three-bet causing everyone else to fold.
The was the first card on the flop giving Friedmann some hope, however, the rest of the board ran out to eliminate the Frenchman in 13th place for 43,000 MAD (€3,963).
Play has been redrawn to two tables and we will update everyone's chip stacks after the next break which is scheduled at the end of this blind level.
board improved neither hand eliminating Lewis in 22nd place for 36,000 MAD (€3,318).![[Removed:13]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop. The 
completed the board.
flop left him with little hope. The 
completed the board to eliminate Wuillot in 19th place for 36,000 MAD (€3,318).
was the first card to nail the flop sealing her fate along with the 
hit the turn, however Baumann was eliminated after the 
appeared on the river and collected 36,000 MAD (€3,318) for her 18th place finish.
and was well behind Compte's 
and unable to improve his hand against Ali Mechiche's 
eliminated Vernay in 14th place for 43,000 MAD (€3,963).
. Bruno Lopes woke up with 
and isolated the action with a three-bet causing everyone else to fold.
was the first card on the flop giving Friedmann some hope, however, the rest of the board ran out 